Swillington Ings

Wednesday 17th April a.m.
 A cloudy start to the day but after driving along the motorway to Swillington Ings the sun was starting to appear with a temperature of 7°C.A good start to the morning with a Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Little Egret on route to Astley Lake where my good fortune continued with my first Common Tern of the year. Soon after three Little Ringed Plovers landed on one of the islands, others here Gt Crested Grebe, Pochard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Cormorant and Oysterctcher.
 Further along it was good to see Black-necked Grebes again, there were seven seen, also Reed Buntings and Linnets in good numbers. There must have been c1,000 BH Gulls across the site, also seen were Wigeon, Canadas, Greylags, Tufteds and Mute Swan, not to mention Bitterns booming.
 Heading back I saw a Green Woodpecker which flew off into some trees where it did a bit of yaffling, later I heard an unfamiliar abrupt call. I felt this could be a Cetti's Warbler which after being given the run around I was able to locate the bird and get some record shots confirming my ID.
  I decided to have a look at the canal which proved a good move as a Common Tern was flying around this area, back at the car park my final bird of the morning was a Whitethroat.

Reed Bunting

Black-necked Grebe

Cetti's Warbler

Common Tern

Linnet

Little Ringed Plover

Orange Tip Butterfly

Whitethroat

Ringed Plovers and others

Swillington Ings 17/4/2019